Scoop (2006)

This didn’t have a very original plot, but it was fairly original for a comedy.

After two pretty horrible releases, writer-director Woody Allen returns to comedy with a student named Sondra, played by Scarlett Johanssen (Match Point), who is visited by the ghost of a recently deceased reporter, played by Ian McShane (TV’s Deadwood), while volunteering for a magic act trick.

The reporter gives Sondra leads to the exposure of English businessman Peter Limon, son of Lord Limon, played by Hugh Jackman (X-Men), as a vicious serial killer who has taken victims in the double digits.

Along with magician Sid, played by Allen (Small Time Crooks), Sondra sets out to get the clues she needs but has to fight off the feelings she eventually has for Limon.

Like most of Allen’s pictures, the dialogue made the movie. Allen once again delivers very funny, funny writing to the screen.

Scarlett Johanssen is NOT a comedic actress and this movie proves it. She only had about three funny lines to deliver, and she blew each one.

I really liked the concept behind McShane’s character and how he consistently escapes Death, as a character, to get back and give Sondra and Sid more clues. The whole Death’s Boat Ride concept was very funny and gave the film just enough weirdness and the originality it needed as a signature Woody Allen picture.

Overall, this isn’t my favorite of Allen’s comedies, but it sure got plenty of laughs out of me, and the 30-65 years old audience I sat with. If you like Allen’s movies at all, you should enjoy “Scoop.”

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Match Point (2005)

This movie is just another example of how Woody Allen doesn’t write as well for movie scripts he’s not starring in as well.

In “Match Point,” Chris Wilton, played by Johnathan Rhys Meyers (Bend It Like Beckham), is a former tennis pro, looking to find work as an instructor. He soon meets Tom Hewett, whose sister Chloe falls in love with Chris; however, Chris has his eyes on Tom’s fiancee, the lucious Nola, played by Scarlett Johansen (The Island).

After already marrying Chloe, Chris tries to juggle both women and at some point must choose between them…especially when Nola gets pregnant with his baby. The situation turns violent and Allen (Melinda and Melinda, Shadows and Fog) gets yet another Academy Award nomination for it.

The movie is very slow in the start, very redundant in the middle and very abrupt in the end. I have no clue what Allen was trying to say with this picture except the luck in our lives can sometimes save our a** or fry it.

I really couldn’t give a crap for Chris, and I’m not sure if I was supposed to. Chris has no consequences for his action, especially after the movie’s length climactic sequence, so why should I give a crap about the film?

Overall, I don’t know who would like this movie where bad things happen and no one is held responsible after being dragged through a slow paced 124-minute film. Big fat yawn on this one, even though I liked most of the dialogue.

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Black Dahlia (2006)

Film noir is a genre that needs to make a comeback, and this film could sure help that.

Based on the novel, inspired by an actual unsolved Hollywood murder, two Los Angeles cops, during the 1940’s, are pulled onto an investigation of aspiring actress Elizabeth Short.

Sgt. Blanchard, played by Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), becomes obsessed over the case’s evidence, while Officer Bleichert, played by Josh Hartnet (Lucky Number Slevin), attempts to find clues in the girl’s past while skirting an affair with Blanchard’s wife, played by Scarlet Johanssen (Match Point).

The story culminates into a series of clues, one after the other, which keeps Bleichert reeling for the truth.

“Black Dahlia” is a wonderful throw back to a lost genre. Every component of film noir was present; an affinity to water, a dominant trumpet or saxophone on the soundtrack, the poetic voice over, a woman is the main hero’s downfall, etc.

It is a very long movie, but it takes much screen time to set up the relationship between Bleichert, Blanchard and his wife.

PAY ATTENTION! That’s the best advice I can give you. If you’re not in the right frame of mind, you’ll miss too much and get confused. There is much information to keep track of in this work.

There are a couple of shot director Brian De Palma chose which I feel go for shock value over necessity; otherwise, I think the movie is a nice mystery noir thriller with appropriate twists through its third act. This is a nice rental with all the lights turned out and a glass of wine.

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